Graphical User Interface (gui) for Administering a Voice Over Internet Protocol (voip) Network Implementing Media Aggregation

1. A method comprising: discovering a set of nodes within a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) network, the set of nodes including a plurality of media aggregation manager nodes, a plurality of routers and a plurality of communities; receiving an indication of a first media aggregation manager node of the set of nodes that is configured to serve as a reservation protocol session proxy for one or more communication devices associated with a first community of the plurality of communities; receiving an indication of a second media aggregation manager node of the set of nodes that is configured to serve as a reservation protocol session proxy for one or more communication devices associated with a second community of the plurality of communities; graphically depicting a plurality of paths through the VoIP network, each path depiction representing a potential path over which media packets are capable of being transferred between the first community and the second community; receiving a selection of a path of the graphically depicted plurality of paths; configuring a set of routers of the plurality of routers that are part of a selected path of the plurality of paths to route media packets exchanged between the first community and the second community over the selected path; deallocating at least a portion of bandwidth available to the set of routers of the plurality of routers that are part of the selected path; allocating at least a portion of the deallocated bandwidth available to the set of routers of the plurality of routers that are part of the selected path; and establishing a reservation protocol session between the first media aggregation manager node and the second media aggregation manager node onto which a plurality of application sessions among the one or more communication devices of the first community and the one or more communication devices of the second community are to be multiplexed.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the reservation protocol session comprises a ReSerVation Protocol (RSVP) session.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein a first communication device of the one or more communication devices associated with the first community and a second communication device of the one or more communication devices associated with the second community are running an Internet telephony application and wherein an application session established between the first communication device and the second communication device utilizes bandwidth reserved for the reservation protocol session to exchange voice transmissions between the first communication device and the second communication device.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the graphically depicting a plurality of paths through the VoIP network comprises displaying the plurality of paths in a prioritized fashion based upon one or more predetermined factors.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the one or more predetermined factors include one or more of: a number of nodes in the potential path; total available bandwidth for the potential path; available communications bandwidth on the potential path; propagation speed between nodes that make up the potential path; and physical length of travel between nodes that make up the potential path.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising prior to the configuring a set of routers of the plurality of routers that are part of a selected path of the plurality of paths: receiving a request to analyze the selected path; and determining a total combined schedule of bandwidth allocation by combining: a predicted increase in bandwidth allocation for each router of the set of routers that are part of the selected path assuming the reservation protocol session between the first media aggregation manager node and the second media aggregation manager node is to be established; and a current bandwidth allocation for each router of the set of routers that are part of the selected path representing bandwidth previously allocated.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising displaying the total combined schedule of bandwidth allocation for the selected path to an administrator of the VoIP network.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the displayed total combined schedule of bandwidth allocation allows the administrator to confirm whether utilization of the available communication bandwidth for each of the routers of the set of routers that are part of the selected path is within a desired range.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising displaying a network map including visually distinguishable graphical representations of the plurality of routers, the plurality of communities, a plurality of media aggregation managers, and interconnections among the plurality of routers, the plurality of communities, and the plurality of media aggregation managers.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: receiving information regarding a number of end users that are part of the first community that are capable of communicating via the first media aggregation manager node; and receiving information regarding a number of end users that are part of the second community that are capable of communicating via the second media aggregation manager node.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: receiving information identifying a pair of media aggregation manager nodes of the set of nodes that serve as reservation protocol session proxies for communication devices associated with a pair of communities of the plurality of communities; graphically depicting: a currently selected path through the VoIP network over which media packets are currently configured to be transferred between the pair of communities; and one or more alternative paths through the VoIP network over which media packets are capable of being transferred between the pair of communities; and responsive to a request to change the currently selected path to an alternative path of the one or more alternative paths: reconfiguring those of the plurality of routers that are part of the currently selected path; configuring those of the plurality of routers that are part of the alternative path to route media packets exchanged between the pair of communities over the alternative path; deallocating bandwidth allocated to those of the plurality of routers that are part of the currently selected path; including terminating a reservation protocol session between the pair of communities; and establishing a new reservation protocol session between the pair of nodes onto which a plurality of application sessions among the communication devices of the pair of communities are to be multiplexed.

12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: graphically depicting a currently selected path through the VoIP network over which media packets are currently configured to be transferred between a pair of communities of the plurality of communities, wherein a pair of nodes of the set of nodes serve as reservation protocol session proxies for communication devices associated with the pair of communities; and responsive to a request to deallocate the currently selected path, deallocating bandwidth allocated to routers along the currently selected path communicatively coupling the pair of nodes and including terminating a reservation protocol session between the pair of nodes.

13. An apparatus for administering a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) network comprising: a storage device having stored therein one or more routines to receive input from a system administrator and convey information about the VoIP network to the system administrator; a processor coupled to the storage device to execute the one or more routines to perform discovery of the VoIP network, identify potential paths through the VoIP network over which media packets are capable of being transferred between a pair of selected media aggregation nodes participating in the VoIP network, and configure the VoIP network to use a currently selected path of the potential paths to exchange media packets between a pair of communities participating in the VoIP network; and a display coupled to the processor, wherein: a set of nodes within the VoIP network is discovered, the set of nodes including a plurality of media aggregation managers, a plurality of routers and a plurality of communities; the potential paths are graphically depicted on the display in a prioritized fashion; a set of routers of the plurality of routers that are part of the currently selected path are configured to route media packets exchanged between the pair of communities over the currently selected path; at least a portion of bandwidth available to the set of routers of the plurality of routers that are part of the currently selected path is deallocated; at least a portion of the deallocated bandwidth available to the set of routers of the plurality of routers that are part of the currently selected path is allocated; the pair of selected media aggregation manager nodes are configured to act as reservation protocol session proxies on behalf of the pair of communities; and a reservation protocol session is established between the pair of media aggregation manager nodes onto which a plurality of application sessions among communication devices of the pair of communities are multiplexed.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the reservation protocol session comprises a ReSerVation Protocol (RSVP) session.

15. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the processor determines a total combined schedule of bandwidth allocation by combining (1) a predicted increase in bandwidth allocation for each router of the set of routers that are part of the currently selected path assuming the reservation protocol session between the pair of selected nodes is to be established, and (2) a current bandwidth allocation for each router of the set of routers that are part of the currently selected path representing bandwidth previously allocated.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the total combined schedule of bandwidth allocation for the currently selected path is presented to the system administrator on the display to allow the system administrator to confirm whether utilization of the available communication bandwidth for each of the routers of the set of routers that are part of the currently selected path is within a desired range.

17. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein a network map is graphically depicted on the display, the network map including visually distinguishable graphical representations of the plurality of routers, the plurality of communities, a plurality of media aggregation managers, and interconnections among them.

18. An article of manufacture including a computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon execution of which, by a computing device, causes the computing device to perform operations comprising: discovering a set of nodes within a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) network, the set of nodes including a plurality of media aggregation managers, a plurality of routers and a plurality of groups of communication devices; receiving an indication of a first media aggregation manager node of the set of nodes that is configured to serve as a reservation protocol session proxy for one or more communication devices associated with a first group of communication devices of the plurality of groups of communication devices; receiving an indication of a second media aggregation manager node of the set of nodes that is configured to serve as a reservation protocol session proxy for one or more communication devices associated with a second group of communication devices of the plurality of groups of communication devices; graphically depicting a plurality of paths through the VoIP network, each path depiction representing a potential path over which media packets are capable of being transferred between the first group of communication devices and the second group of communication devices; receiving a selection of a path of the graphically depicted plurality of paths; configuring a set of routers of the plurality of routers that are part of a selected path of the plurality of paths to route media packets exchanged between the first group of communication devices and the second group of communication devices over the selected path; deallocating at least a portion of bandwidth available to the set of routers of the plurality of routers that are part of the selected path; allocating at least a portion of the deallocated bandwidth available to the set of routers of the plurality of routers that are part of the selected path; and establishing a reservation protocol session between the first media aggregation manager node and the second media aggregation manager node onto which a plurality of application sessions among the one or more communication devices of the first group of communication devices and the one or more communication devices of the second group of communication devices are multiplexed.

19. The article of manufacture of claim 18 , wherein the reservation protocol session comprises a ReSerVation Protocol (RSVP) session.

20. The article of manufacture of claim 18 , wherein a first communication device of the one or more communication devices associated with the first group of communication devices and a second communication device of the one or more communication devices associated with the second group of communication devices are running an Internet telephony application and wherein an application session established between the first communication device and the second communication device utilizes bandwidth reserved for the reservation protocol session to exchange voice transmissions between the first communication device and the second communication device.

21. The article of manufacture of claim 18 , wherein the graphically depicting a plurality of paths through the VoIP network comprises displaying the plurality of paths in a prioritized fashion based upon one or more predetermined factors.

22. The article of manufacture of claim 21 , wherein the one or more predetermined factors include one or more of: a number of nodes in the potential path; total available bandwidth for the potential path; available communications bandwidth on the potential path; propagation speed between nodes that make up the potential path; and physical length of travel between nodes that make up the potential path.

23. The article of manufacture of claim 18 , wherein the execution of the instructions further causes the computing device to perform operations comprising, prior to the configuring a set of routers of the plurality of routers that are part of a selected path of the plurality of paths: receiving a request to analyze the selected path; determining a total combined schedule of bandwidth allocation by combining (1) a predicted increase in bandwidth allocation for each router of the set of routers that are part of the selected path assuming the reservation protocol session between the first node and the second node is to be established, and (2) a current bandwidth allocation for each router of the set of routers that are part of the selected path representing bandwidth previously allocated.

24. The article of manufacture of claim 23 , wherein the execution of the instructions further causes the computing device to perform operations comprising displaying the total combined schedule of bandwidth allocation for the selected path to an administrator of the VoIP network.

25. The article of manufacture of claim 24 , wherein the displayed total combined schedule of bandwidth allocation allows the administrator to confirm whether utilization of the available communication bandwidth for each of the routers of the set of routers that are part of the selected path is within a desired range.

26. The article of manufacture of claim 18 , wherein the execution of the instructions further causes the computing device to perform operations comprising displaying a network map including visually distinguishable graphical representations of the plurality of routers, the plurality of groups of communication devices, a plurality of media aggregation managers, and interconnections among the plurality of routers, the plurality of groups of communication devices, and the plurality of media aggregation managers.

27. A method comprising: discovering a set of nodes within a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) network, the set of nodes including a plurality of media aggregation managers, a plurality of routers and a plurality of groups of communication devices; receiving an indication of a first media aggregation manager node of the set of nodes that is configured to serve as a reservation protocol session proxy for one or more communication devices associated with a first group of communication devices of the plurality of groups of communication devices; receiving an indication of a second media aggregation manager node of the set of nodes that is configured to serve as a reservation protocol session proxy for one or more communication devices associated with a second group of communication devices of the plurality of groups of communication devices; graphically depicting a plurality of paths through the VoIP network, each path depiction representing a potential path over which media packets are capable of being transferred between the first group of communication devices and the second group of communication devices; receiving a selection of a path of the graphically depicted plurality of paths; configuring a set of routers of the plurality of routers that are part of a selected path of the plurality of paths to route media packets exchanged between the first group of communication devices and the second group of communication devices over the selected path; deallocating at least a portion of bandwidth available to the set of routers of the plurality of routers that are part of the selected path; allocating at least a portion of the deallocated bandwidth available to the set of routers of the plurality of routers that are part of the selected path; and establishing a reservation protocol session between the first media aggregation manager node and the second media aggregation manager node onto which a plurality of application sessions among the one or more communication devices of the first group of communication devices and the one or more communication devices of the second group of communication devices are to be multiplexed.